With the coronavirus pandemic the Chronic Diseases Research Centre, from NOVA Medical School, has put in place a number of measures and redirected its main research activities to diagnosis work to help the global efforts to fight COVID-19.
Diagnosis by PCR
A team of volunteers of CEDOC and NOVA Medical School formed a COVID-19 Diagnosis by PCR task force with the purpose of assisting the Portuguese community on the diagnosis for Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The COVID-19 diagnostic will be assessed by a real-time RT-PCR test. Until the beginning of July this team performed more than 6200 diagnosis tests.
Standard Operating Procedure (SOPs) of the Diagnosis by PCR
Volunteers of Diagnosis by PCR Team
Protocol with Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Lisboa
NOVA Medical School signed a protocol with Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Lisboa regarding the diagnostic tests of SARS-CoV-2 conducted by CEDOC-NMS to the users of the Homes of Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Lisboa.
Partnership between NMS and Governo Regional dos Açores e Governo Regional da Madeira
Under the partnership established between the Regional Government of Madeira and NOVA Medical School, CEDOC is conducting COVID-19 diagnostic tests to anyone traveling to Madeira and Azores, without costs for the passengers.
Serology Tests
SARS-CoV2 Antibody Tests
Within the context of Serology4Covid consortium, immunologists from CEDOC formed the serological Task force to implement and perform SARS-CoV2 serological testing.
Serology4COVID Consortium aims to develop of a serological test for the Portuguese population. This joint effort is crucial to combat the impact of the SARS-CoV-2 virus on society.
This Consortium comprises 5 scientific research institutes in the Lisbon-Oeiras area, namely CEDOC-NMS, iBET - Instituto de Biologia Experimental e Tecnológica, IGC - Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência, iMM - Instituto de Medicina Molecular and ITQB NOVA - Instituto de Tecnologia Química e Biológica António Xavier.
The initiative is supported by the COVID-19 Emergency Fund of Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, of Sociedade Francisco Manuel dos Santos and of Câmara Municipal de Oeiras.
More information regarding Serology4COVID Consortium in the press release (portuguese).
Tests Serology4COVID
Information to request protocol and protein here.
CEDOC Team:
Helena Soares e Juliana Gonçalves
SARS-CoV2 antibody testing for NOVA University Lisbon academic community
Under the sponsorship of NOVA University Lisbon, teachers, researchers, employees and students who attend face-to-face classes and all those who live in the university's residences have been tested for the presence of anti-SARS-CoV2 antibodies in order to guarantee the best health and safety conditions, considering the current and the next academic year. More than 1640 serological tests have been performed in 12 days, during the month of July.
Info at NOVA website.
Alternative Diagnosis Test by PCR
Vasco Barreto is leading a project, funded by FCT and ANI, entitled “Ultra-sensitive, specific, scalable, fast and cheap: a colorimetric-assisted single-tube nested conventional PCR to detect the Sars-Cov-2 RNA in nasopharyngeal swabs”.
This initiative aims to replace the current qPCR-based method to test infection of the new coronavirus used in Portugal, allowing to increase up to an order of magnitude the installed capacity of the many Portuguese research units from the SciPTaskForce COVID-19.
The new testing method that is being developed by Vasco Barreto and his team presents several advantages, such as being simpler, lower-priced, designed for a regular thermocycler and should have increased sensitivity. In addition to this, removing the bottlenecks that currently limit testing, namely RNA isolation and the need for a rare qPCR machine, would scale up the installed capacity of the Portuguese research units by at least a factor of six, while lowering the cost price of a single test.
CEDOC Team:
Vasco Barreto, Vasco Barreto Lab and Fabiana Herédia
Partnering with Maria João Amorim, from IGC - Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência.
Support
Masks:
Hovione
ESTeSL
Swabs:
Hidrofer
Personal rotection equipment and alcohol gel:
Hovione
E3D visors:
Eng. Miguel Valadas
Research Grants:
FCT Research 4 COVID-19:
- Ultra-sensitive, specific, scalable, fast and cheap: a colorimetric-assisted single-tube nested conventional PCR to detect the Sars-Cov-2 RNA in nasopharyngeal swabs
PI: Vasco Barreto
- Development of an inexpensive, simple and open-source device for SARS-Cov-2 detection
PI: César Mendes
ANI:
- Ultra-sensitive, specific, scalable, fast and cheap: a colorimetric-assisted single-tube nested conventional PCR to detect the Sars-Cov-2 RNA in nasopharyngeal swabs
PI: Vasco Barreto
COLife Initiatives
COLife is an alliance of six research institutes in life sciences located in Lisbon and Oeiras: Chronic Diseases Research Centre - NOVA Medical School (CEDOC-NMS), Champalimaud Research - Fundação Champalimaud, Instituto de Biologia Experimental e Tecnológica (iBET), Instituto de Medicina Molecular João Lobo Antunes (iMM), Instituto de Tecnologia Química e Biológica António Xavier da Universidade NOVA de Lisboa (ITQB NOVA) and Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência (IGC) - More info at COLife website
Science Digests:
Scientists from COLife institutes are dedicating their efforts and knowledge to understand, translate, and improve communication on COVID-19 to a broad audience, ranging from peers (other researchers, medical doctors and health professionals) to politicians and civil society.
COLife Science Digests assembles up-to-date research findings, from all over the world, reviewed by COLife scientists, edited and translated by COLife science communicators.
Live Webinars | Sharing Information Together:
Webinar I - Dúvidas sobre a Covid-19? Pergunte, os cientistas respondem.
Webinar II - Como aceder a informação fidedigna?
Webinar III - Vamos falar de vacinas?
Webinar IV - Cientistas na era COVID-19: Entre o Confinamento e a retoma
Other Initiatives by CEDOC and NMS professionals
- Evidentia Medica
Evidentia Medica is a project that aims to select and criticize the best evidence in each topic so that health professionals can quickly access the best accurate medical information. Given the current situation due to COVID-19, members from the Person-centred Care Research Group have been making summaries of the literature that has been coming out regarding coronavirus.
- NOVA Medical School provides facilities and donates material to help combat COVID-19
NMS provided the facilities of its School Building, next to Hospital de São Francisco Xavier in order to health professionals to rest between shifts. The Medical School also donated material from the laboratories of the Research Center, such as masks and filter tips for pipettes, to Hospital de Cascais and to Centro Hospitalar de Lisboa Central. Moreover, personal protective equipment is being collected and will be delivered to the Shared Services of the Ministry of Health, which will later distribute them to the neediest hospitals.
- Patient Innovation
Patient Innovation, a project based at NOVA Medical School, has recently launched a portfolio of innovative solutions developed by the population in order to prevent and treat COVID-19. These include medical equipment, such as multiple related innovations with ventilators, personal protection masks and ventilation masks, and also community initiatives organized by volunteers to address complications created by social insulation, increased hygiene need, and others.
- Project Open Air
This initiative arose to combat the lack of hospital resources in the fight against Covid-19. It has an wide voluntary community that seeks to develop global solutions that are quick and easy to implement anywhere.
The initial aim of ProjectOpenAir was to develop open source ventilators that can easily be replicated anywhere. However, other projects quickly arose emerged, including vent2life - a platform that facilitates healthcare institutions to repair ventilators and other inoperable medical equipment free of charge; and Front Line Medic Protection - the first reusable kit for the total protection of healthcare professionals against COVID-19, certified and produced in Portugal; etc.
- Handbooks Vamos por a Alimentação Saudável ON em Casa & NOVO Coronavirus COVID-19 – Alimentação
NOVA Medical School’s Nutrition and Metabolism team, represented by Professor Diana Teixeira of Professor Conceição Calhau Research Group, is part of the team of the National Program for the Promotion of Healthy Eating of the General Directorate of Health, responsible for the elaboration of some manuals, with guidance in the Area of Healthy Eating in the moment of the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Ventile esta Causa
NOVA Medical School started a fundraising campaign, with companies and individuals, for the purchase of ventilators that will be donated to the National Health System.
NOVA Medical School delivers ventilators to the National Health System - Centro Hospitalar de Lisboa Ocidental to help combat COVID-19.
- Vent2life
The purpose of this platform is to create a link between entities that have inactive ventilation equipment susceptible of recovery and specialists who can ensure their repair and reinforce the beneficiary health units by providing them a fundamental equipment for the recovery of seriously COVID-19 infected patients.
- Vulnerabilidade das Pessoas Idosas com Doença Aguda. Há Particularidades na COVID-19?
- Campaign Healthy Eating to combat COVID-19
During the isolation period, NOVA Medical School provided daily recommendations, on social networks (Facebook and LinkedIn), focusing on how to maintain a healthy diet during this period, answering various questions and clarifying some myths about the relation between certain foods and COVID-19. Moreover, the Nutrition and Metabolism also answered specific questions with a dedicated email: questoesalimentacaocovid19(at)nms.unl.pt.
- Medical Students voluntary support to medical teams at hospitals
6th year students of the Master Degree in Medicine at NOVA Medical School, after the suspension of the classroom teaching activities, collaborated with the Hospitals CUF Sintra and Garcia de Orta. These students provided volunteer administrative support to the medical teams dedicated to report cases of COVID-19 in the National Epidemiological Surveillance System (SINAVE).
Other Initiatives by NOVA: